The Ghostwriter
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER!
"Deftly and engagingly delves into this complicated not-so-cold case." —The New York Times
"Expertly plotted and exquisitely twisted." —Ashley Elston, #1 New York Times bestselling author of First Lie Wins
From the instant New York Times bestselling author of The Last Flight and The Lies I Tell comes a dazzling new thriller.
June, 1975.
The Taylor family shatters in a single night when two teenage siblings are found dead in their own home. The only surviving sibling, Vincent, never shakes the whispers and accusations that he was the one who killed them. Decades later, the legend only grows as his career as a horror writer skyrockets.
Ghostwriter Olivia Dumont has spent her entire professional life hiding the fact that she is the only child of Vincent Taylor. Now on the brink of financial ruin, she’s offered a job to ghostwrite her father’s last book. What she doesn't know, though, is that this project is another one of his lies. Because it’s not another horror novel he wants her to write.
After fifty years of silence, Vincent Taylor is finally ready to talk about what really happened that night in 1975.
- Pages
- 328
- First published
- June 3, 2025
- Language
- English
- Edition
- Ebook
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Shelved by 5 Litcadians
Reviews
- challengingdarkemotionalmysterioussadtenseMedium-paced
Started September 25, 2026 · Finished October 3, 2026
Wowwwwwwwww I really did not expect the actual truth ending of this, and we still don’t know for sure. I love the premise of Danny and Poppy being the only ones who really knew what happened. Getting to see the POVs of Vincent and Poppy while telling this story was really good imo. I still can’t come to terms that Lydia killed Danny, but also screw Mr. Stewart for being the way he was period?!?! I don’t blame Danny for how he started acting but also raping Lydia?? Did Mr. Stewart take advantage of Danny so that he wouldn’t tell about Lydia?? Did he know that the baby was Danny’s?? Ughhh so many twists.
Started March 6, 2026 · Finished March 13, 2026
*☆2 stars☆* I had high hopes for this one—the premise sounded so intriguing—but unfortunately it didn’t quite deliver. We follow famous ghostwriter Olivia Dumont as she reluctantly returns to her hometown of Ojai, a place she’d much rather keep firmly in the rear-view mirror. It’s the kind of town that holds secrets, family trauma, and apparently… her estranged father, who just so happens to be a rumored murderer. Naturally, he asks Olivia to help him write his memoir. Because when your possibly murderous father calls, the obvious next step is a collaborative writing project. The start of the story was strong, and I was genuinely hooked at first. But the further we got into the story, the more my patience started to wear thin. The writing itself isn’t bad, but the plot points began to feel repetitive—like we were circling the same clues again and again. A lot of that comes down to the multiple POVs. In theory, they should have added depth, but instead it often felt like reading slightly different versions of the same discovery. I like the idea of watching the main character uncover the past while also seeing the people who actually lived through it. That structure could have worked really well. But the POV shifts happening in entirely new chapters made the pacing feel choppy instead of seamless. A bit more tightening and editing could have made a big difference here. Unfortunately, by the end, my interest had pretty much fizzled out. Honestly, I don’t think I can really recommend this one but I could be persuaded to read something else by this author. [Find my reviews on Bookstagram too!](https://www.instagram.com/literarily_laurynn?igsh=aTh6eTZ6dGwxMXpy&utm_source=qr)
Finished June 21, 2026
I picked this up for the GR Summer Challenge and ended up enjoying it more than I expected. The premise of a ghostwriter returning home to write her estranged father's memoir while also trying to unravel the decades old murder mystery kept me hooked! I liked how the family drama and mystery were woven together and it kept me questioning what actually happened. I guessed a few twists but this was still super engaging and fast paced!!
